title: Measurement error in human dental mensuration.
abstract: The reliability of human odontometric data was evaluated in a sample of 60 teeth. Three observers, using their own instruments and the same definition of the mesiodistal and buccolingual dimensions were asked to repeat their measurements after 2 months. Precision, or repeatability, was analysed by means of Pearsonian correlation coefficients and mean absolute error values. Accuracy, or the absence of bias, was evaluated by means of Bland-Altman procedures and attendant Student t-tests, and also by an ANOVA procedure. The present investigation suggests that odontometric data have a high interobserver error component. Mesiodistal dimensions show greater imprecision and bias than buccolingual measurements. The results of the ANOVA suggest that bias is the result of interobserver error and is not due to the time between repeated measurements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kieser
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Groeneveld
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cameron
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D009811:Odontometry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology*